All the Arts, All the Time

Kim Jong Il is a favorite target of comedians

December 19, 2011 | 11:02
am

Kim Jong Il, the North Korean dictator who died at age 69 of an apparent heart attack, wasn't loved by many people outside of his home country. But the diminutive Dear Leader was a perennial favorite of at least one group -- comedians.

Kim's lavish lifestyle and reported love of Western culture -- including blond women and American DVDs -- proved to be an endless source of material for comics on stage and screen. Perhaps the most successful spoof was Bobby Lee's impersonation on Fox's "MADtv."

Lee portrayed the autocratic ruler as a giddy, sexed-up megalomaniac with a bad perm. "The Kim Jong-Il Show" sketches featured guests Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, as well as Renee Zellweger. In one sketch, which you can see below, Kim rapped with P. Diddy about his love for nuclear weapons and voluptuous women.

On Twitter, a number of comedians have been cranking out jokey tributes to the late Kim. Nick Kroll tweeted: "RIP kim Jong il. We took level 1 improv together. There will never be another tiny, Asian Elvis maniac like you, my friend." Patton Oswalt wrote: "All the flags in North Korea are flying at half-M*A*S*H today."

Probably the best-known Kim spoof is from Matt Stone and Trey Parker, who lampooned the dictator in their movie "Team America: World Police." Stone and Parker -- the creators of "South Park" and Broadway's "The Book of Mormon" -- portrayed Kim as the ultimate Hollywood bad guy. In one scene, Kim feeds United Nations' weapons inspector Hans Blix to his pet sharks. (You can view the clip here, but be warned that it includes adult content.)